Category Archives: Clancy Metzger

In romance, we have fairly specific types of characters running through our pages: The hero (probably alpha, could be beta), the heroine, the best friend or side-kick, and perhaps a villain or antagonist.

Let’s look at these characters in terms of romance because romance is almost always a character-driven tale of ups, downs and eventual happy-ever-after (HEA) togetherness.

I’m not discounting any combination of relationship (male/male, female/female or anything else) because to my mind you’ll still have at least one person who is more or less portraying the hero and one the heroine, regardless of gender. So, with that disclaimer let’s start.

While many heroes are alpha males, there is also the beta hero. What’s the difference? For me – it comes down to ease of emotion and sensitivity.

Alphas are strong – they ooze confidence and strut arrogance. They’re Ã¼ber capable and may even be abrasive because they don’t really care if they offend anyone. They don’t worry about their emotions or being sensitive. They don’t need to. They’re too busy kicking-ass. If they were a doll (action-figure, for the guys), they’d be G.I. Joe. Guys want to be them and girls want (desperately) to be with them.

Beta heroes are more subtle. They’re often funny and charming. They may be able to kick ass, but they’d rather reason or humor their way out of any conflict. Mother’s love them. They bring flowers just because and remember anniversaries. They’re in touch with and willing to express their emotions. They can (and do) plan candle-light dinners and know what present will bring their lady-love joy. If they were a doll/action figure, they’d be Ken. Happy to hang out in Barbie’s dream house for romantic weekends of long talks and walks along the beach.

I love both types of heroes.

Our heroines need to be smart and capable. No one wants to read about a lead character who is too stupid to live (it’s a thing… really). We want our heroines to perhaps need rescued from a situation but not from their lives. They need to be able to stand on their own two feet just fine without our hero, so they don’t need the hero, but they want him.

The key is that our hero and heroine are both better people for having the other in their life. And as a reader, we need to love them both. If we don’t, we aren’t rooting for them to get together and find their HEA. Through this identification with and love for the characters, we are invested in their path to happiness, and that’s what a romance is all about – the emotional journey. Next month when we discuss genres, I’ll go into more depth on the whys and what-fors that make romance … romance. Right now, let’s continue on with the people inhabiting our stories.

We may also have the sidekick/best friend characters. Like other genres, these people can be a huge amount of fun because they don’t have to be heroic. They get to have a lot more flaws and we don’t have to love them. They can be cowardly, obnoxious, slightly stupid, clumsy… a whole host of things that our heroes do not get to be. They are perfect foils for our leads characters.

Our villains and antagonists in romance may or may not be actual bad guys/gals, they may just be the wrong guy/gal for our hero/ine. How far this character is willing to go to keep our leads in their lives determine where they fall on our villain – antagonist spectrum. Or they may be someone (a well-meaning, or not, relative?) who feels these two should not be together and will do whatever it takes to keep them apart. Often though, what is keeping our lovebirds from their HEA isn’t a who so much as a what – their flaws or internal conflicts. I’ll discuss more on this next month as well.

What traits do ya’ll think are necessary for our hero/ine to be identified with and loved?

Life, the Universe, & Everything Symposium aka LTUE

January 4, 2013

clancy

Taken from LTUE’s website: LTUE “is a three day academic symposium on all aspects of Science Fiction and Fantasy. LTUE is comprised of panels, workshops, presentations and papers on writing, art, literature, media, science and other aspects of speculative fiction.”

I attended it the first time several years back and have been a few times. It has changed over time growing from a small student-run symposium for active Brigham Young University students being held in random rooms on campus to taking over the Continuing Ed building to now being held in a nearby hotel. Although it is held in Provo, Utah and run by the Mormon students of BYU, everyone is welcome and it is not religious based.

One time I attended, Richard Hatch, Apollo from the original Battlestar Gallactica, gave a two hour presentation. I was in full Battlestar-loving-geek mode sitting in the front row… six feet from my favorite teenage crush idol. I have to think Richard Hatch is used to the glazed looks and drooling women cause he is as cute as ever!

But I digress. This is a great event. I’ve met authors like David Farland, James Dashner, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Larry Correia, James Eric Stone, J. Scott Savage, Lee Allred, Jessica Day George, and Howard Tayler at LTUE.

It’s small enough that you can easily visit with the presenters and panelists. They have readings, panel discussions, presentations, Q&As, workshops and book signings. There are generally three or more activities occurring at any one time and you can literally go from event to event for five to ten hours a day… for three days.

Some stand outs for me over the years have been a workshop on how to create your own language, how costuming affects how we see characters, how accurate do you need to be with facts and history in fiction, how to generate ideas, how to create plot, many aspects of world-building, tips on collaborating, how to create web-comics/comic books/graphic novels, how to do research, writing stellar openings, marketing, editing and revision and too many more to mention.

It is a feast of options, knowledge and networking. People travel to attend this event because it provides so much for the crazy reasonable price of only $30 for three days (and it used to be free).

I do recommend as soon as the schedule is available, highlight the topics you are most passionate about seeing and plan out your day. You have a few minutes to get from talk to talk, but trust me, you’ll want to know in advance where you are going to next. Bring lots of paper or a device for note-taking. In the past, I’ve taken snacks with me so I didn’t have to miss anything by taking a lunch break. They have evening fun like filking and a banquet as well.

If you are anywhere near Utah or can get here February 14-16, 2013, I highly recommend you do. LTUE is worth attending in ways you can’t even imagine.

Anyone else attend LTUE before and want to share?

Revise Unto Death or Quit?

December 31, 2012

clancy

Character Clancy Metzger Craft & Skills Rewriting The Writing Life Writing Tools 5 Comments

The last post of 2012. Oh, the pressure!

This makes me think of endings… and beginnings. These ideas fortuitously play into the topic at hand – when should a writer abandon a scene/plot/character/work that just isn’t working rather than rewriting for the fiftieth time?

My story, A Guardian’s Destiny, was a work in process for sixteen months, give or take. I wrote, rewrote, edited, revised, rewrote and on and on for what was longer than was good for me or it. I was halfway through rewrites that added a major character when I couldn’t take it any more. I knew it needed fixed, but I couldn’t figure out what the fix might be. Frustration didn’t begin to cover how I felt. When I stepped back and looked at it with some small measure of objectivity, I could see it had “Edit Face.” Not pretty. So, I put it in a virtual drawer and began something else.

When do you make that call? End one thing, begin another?

That is a personal decision, but here are some things to consider.

Time – How long have you worked on your scene/plot/character/work? Think about Return on Investment or Lost Opportunity Costs. Yes, we want our writing to be its best, but it will never be perfect and we need to recognize the tipping point where we have gone beyond productive effort. If you could have written a multitude of other scenes/plots/characters/works in the time you’ve spent on this particular one, then maybe it’s time to let it go and move on.
Sanity – Is it making you crazy? My story was. That’s not constructive and it’s stressful.
Distance – Sometimes, it isn’t that you need to completely abandon your scene/plot/character/work, it’s that you need some distance from it. Your muse may need time to gel. Time to work out exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. It may be weeks, months, years or never. You just never know.
Perspective – It’s just a story. We’re not curing cancer. Don’t marry your scene/plot/character/work. You need to have some perspective. Sometimes, things just aren’t working and you need to stop. If it helps, save all the drafts or put any deleted text into a different document. Then it isn’t really gone, just not where it isn’t working.

A Guardian’s Destiny has been tucked away for six to ten months. My critique partner asked to read it anyway despite my protestations that it seemed hopeless. After all this time and with her help, I think it may be time to take it back out and finish it. With a second set of eyes and ideas, it may yet be salvageable, but I know now that if it isn’t complete in a reasonable amount of time (not months on end), then back in the drawer it goes.

Here are some sayings that I keep in mind to help me.

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind…… John Neal

It’s only a book. If nothing is happening – hit delete and start over. ….. I don’t remember where I heard this, sorry.

When your moment of truth comes, remind yourself: They told me it would be hard. This is what hard feels like. I can do this. ….. Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

What do y’all think? I’d love more great quotes and/or tales of death, birth and maybe rebirth of your scene/plot/character/work.

Unmotivated? Uninspired? Me too”¦ But Wait”¦ There’s a Cure!

November 21, 2012

clancy

Clancy Metzger Craft & Skills The Writing Life Writing Tools 5 Comments

What do you do when you’re sitting there – ready to write or edit or meet that deadline – and you just aren’t inspired or motivated to do so? Any distraction is a good distraction, right? Sigh.

This is how I’ve been feeling recently, so I said to my friend, “I need some methods to keep me motivated when I feel blue and unmotivated.” And I sighed. And then I remembered I needed to write this post. Perfect timing to go find some methods to combat this melancholy or apathy or <insert your own feeling>.

After reading several articles… here is what I found.

Have One Goal – when we take on too much in our lives, it’s difficult to find energy and focus to accomplish our one goal. Clear your plate, that other stuff isn’t going anywhere. Make writing your one goal for a set amount of time and get to it. I am notoriously guilty of over-loading my plate. Must learn to say no.

Be Excited – Don’t write the scenes that you’re struggling with at this time, save them for when you’re on a roll. Talk about, think about, find inspiration in the fun scenes, the scenes that you can’t wait to write. That yummy sex scene or that juicy action scene. We don’t actually have to write in a linear fashion. Yes… I’m guilty of this one, too.

Be Accountable – Post your goals for pubic viewing or be accountable to someone. I always get more excited about writing when I discuss it with my critique partner. And, it always helps to have goals and accountability(see this post).

Be Positive – Be aware of negative self-talk or that all-too-critical self-editor we have in our heads and hush it up with some positive talk about how great it’s going to be when this scene is done and how we can always edit later. Harder than it sounds, but practice helps.

Baby Steps – My mom is a great proponent of ‘people can do anything for fifteen minutes’. So, write for fifteen minutes. It may be crap and might get deleted later, but so what. Write for fifteen minutes. It may turn into two hours or two chapters. If after the fifteen minutes, you still got nothing, then repeat the next day and the next… at some point the cobwebs will clear and your inner genius will come out to play.

Stick With It – NaNo is all about this! Just stick with it, even a page a day results in a novel in year. Focus on the baby steps and do it daily. This also helps with creating a habit.

Make Writing a Habit – If you create a routine, you can create a habit and that can get you into your writing ‘head-space’ really fast. Sit in the same place, play the same music, turn off your phone, get your drink, settle in… whatever you need to do to write. Do it the same way, day in and day out and make it a habit. Then when you’re struggling, this can often get you into the zone because your body and mind know what they are supposed to do next… write.

Use Your Subconscious – If you have a scene you don’t know how to fix or a problem to solve or a plot line to repair, think on it just before you go to sleep. Seriously, think about what you have already and what you need to continue as you are falling asleep and let your subconscious work it out. I’m pretty sure mine is smarter than I am. I always get what I need when I do this.

So, I’m feeling better already and hey… I wrote this post when I didn’t want to write anything.

Any other suggestions?